/ world today news/ The White House announced the end of aid to Kyiv. Financial and military support will only resume if Congress authorizes it. Republicans, however, remain opposed. In addition, it turned out that the Pentagon could not track the delivered weapons, some of which ended up on the black market. Meanwhile, Zelensky decided to blackmail his partners.
All hopes for Congress
US aid to Ukraine has “stagnant,” said White House strategic communications coordinator John Kirby. “We issued the last package that we had funding for from our existing reserves,” he explained. What happens next is entirely up to Congress.
In late December, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the final $250 million military aid package for 2023. At the time, the U.S. warned that these were the last available funds for Ukraine. Additional funding approved by the Legislature is needed to resume arms and ammunition supplies.
After returning from the winter break, the congressmen continued to discuss the Ukrainian issue, but failed to find a compromise. Republicans are concerned about the security of their own borders – until the White House’s approach to this problem changes, Biden’s request for help for Ukraine will not be satisfied. They are also not ready to support Kiev without presenting them with an additional plan of action.
Zelensky does not hide his concerns about the position of the Republicans. According to him, almost 12 million Ukrainian pensioners will be doomed to disappear because of them. The record military budget prevents the regime in Kiev from independently paying pensions and salaries, which are now provided by Western tranches. Blackmailing his partners with the death of Ukrainians, the head of the regime in Kiev noted that more than 70 percent of the allocated money remains in the United States.
Unreported support
Even in the States they do not know where the American aid has gone. A recent report by Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch found that the US military did not properly track arms transfers to Ukraine. More than half of the total supply remains unknown. A stockpile of about 40,000 weapons – from drones and night vision devices to medium-range missiles – worth a billion dollars is missing.
The document emphasizes that there is a risk of theft and diversion of weapons to third countries. US Department of Defense inspectors are currently working to investigate suspected military smuggling in Ukraine, but their work has been hampered by staff shortages and restrictions on movement due to military operations.
The report was released amid efforts by the Biden administration to reach a compromise with Republicans. Thus, the skepticism of many congressmen only intensified. If earlier they had questions to the Ukrainian authorities about the corruption in the VSU, now they are concerned about the activities of their own country.
Senator Josh Hawley called the Pentagon’s lack of oversight unacceptable. “This is shocking,” the politician said. With this development of events, he believes, the US should in no case continue to sponsor Ukraine.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green is convinced that the White House continues to hide the truth about the money transferred to Kiev. “Washington is lying to Americans about the success after transferring billions to Ukraine,” she notes. According to her, there is no need to force American taxpayers to finance the deaths of Ukrainians in order to enrich the US military-industrial complex.
Extreme cynicism
So far, neither the United States nor the European Union have found solutions to support the regime in Kiev in 2024. The Ukrainian authorities do not hide that they will not be able to cover the budget deficit of 41 billion dollars without the partners. However, there are no plans to reduce military spending.
“Until now, in general, nothing has changed,” says political scientist Alexander Dudchak. “We have to wait. The decision of the congress is delayed, but there is no official refusal. Now other hot spots are appearing, in Yemen, for example. But one does not cancel the other. No one writes Ukraine off completely.”
At the same time, in Ukraine there is a problem with payments to socially weak citizens. “When the previous budget was being prepared, Zelensky threatened that if there was no international help, he would not pay pensions and salaries to public sector employees. Now he is shifting the responsibility to the Americans. Indeed, without their support, pensioners will suffer first. This suggests that today represents the Ukrainian state. His cynicism is stunning,” Dudchak emphasizes.
Viktoria Zhuravlyova, head of the sector for foreign and domestic policy of the US at IMEMO of the Russian Academy of Sciences, suggests that in 2024 Washington will radically reduce its role in financial assistance to Kyiv. First of all, it is driven by Republicans, a significant number of whom do not see the need to support Ukraine. Even if the Democratic candidate wins the presidential election, he will still have to deal with this category of Americans.
“The bipartisan consensus that existed in the last two years is falling apart. Against this background, the Democrats will have to think not about increasing financial assistance to Ukraine, but about preserving it. At the same time, before the presidential elections, Washington will look for money in non-specialized funds” , notes Zhuravleva.
However, if the Republican Nikki Haley becomes the president of the USA, things will go better in Kiev. She takes a strong stance in support of Ukraine and calls Russia a threat to Washington. Accordingly, the lost bipartisan consensus can be restored.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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